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For your consideration is an original 9 May 1908 autograph letter signed Marie by Crown Princess Marie of Romania (18751938), written entirely in her own hand in German on personal stationery bearing a gilt crowned M monogram. Measuring approximately 13.5 by 8.5 cm, the note is headed Samstag (Saturday) and addressed intimately Liebe Vera! (Dear Vera!) to Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna of Russia (18541912), Duchess Eugen of Wrttemberg. The date can be securely placed on Saturday, 9 May 1908, matching the archival record of Maries correspondence to Wera and the weekday written at the head of the sheet. The letter was probably written from Bucharest, likely Cotroceni Palace, although no place-name appears on the manuscript itself.
Marie thanks Vera warmly for sending postcards accompanied by dem sehr herzigen Bild deiner Enkelin the very charming picture of your granddaughter and expresses the hope that Veras wish will be fully realized. The reference is especially meaningful because Veras granddaughter was Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe (19031983), daughter of Duchess Elsa of Wrttemberg and Prince Albert of Schaumburg-Lippe. The note closes affectionately Deine treue Cousine Marie Your faithful cousin, Marie, explicitly confirming the familial relationship within the extended Romanian-Russian-German royal network.
At the time of writing, Marie was still Crown Princess of Romania, wife of the future King Ferdinand I; she would become Queen of Romania in 1914. Born Princess Marie of Edinburgh, she was a granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and Emperor Alexander II of Russia, and her family connections linked the British, Russian, Romanian, German, and Balkan royal houses. Vera Konstantinovna, daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich of Russia, was likewise deeply embedded in the Romanov and Wrttemberg dynasties. Their correspondence is therefore not merely social but an intimate document of the dense family relationships that bound Europes royal courts together before the First World War.
The letter remains in attractive original condition, with clear brown-black ink, original fold, intact gilt monogram, and Maries bold underlined signature preserved at the conclusion. Its significance lies in the combination of secure royal authorship, identified royal recipient, intimate family content, precise 1908 dating, and explicit reference to Veras granddaughter. As a personal autograph letter from Crown Princess Marie of Romania to Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna, it is a compelling and unusually well-contextualized piece of prewar European dynastic correspondence.
